From Demonized to Organized: Building the New Union Movement by Nora Loreto
Reviewed by Gabriel Bako
This new book published by CCPA National provides a timely analysis of unions and neoliberalism. Mainstream media teaches youth, who have been born and raised under neoliberalism, to be consumers of popular culture rather than critical and active participants in our communities. We’ve known nothing else, so it’s no wonder why more of us believe in the notions of individualism rather than collectivism. Loreto’s book challenges these ideas and invites youth to consider a different perspective.
By Dr. Ryan Meili
Social factors play a significant role in determining whether we will be healthy or ill. Our health care is but one element of what makes the biggest difference in health outcomes. This has been understood for centuries, and empirically validated in recent decades with study after study demonstrating health inequalities between wealthy and disadvantaged populations.
Despite major investments by the Provincial Government in early childhood education since 1999, tens of thousands of families lack affordable child care. Only one in five children under the age of five is in licensed child care in Manitoba. In September, the Province launched a consultation asking citizens how early child care should be improved.
The Manitoba Child Care Association and Child Care Coalition of Manitoba are calling on the Province to make early learning and child care accessible for all families. They have composed an Open Letter to the Province (available here). They are looking for a wide range of groups to sign-on to their call that
Manitoba establish a Commission on Integrated Early Learning and Child Care for Manitoba, with the mandate and resources to develop and propose a multi-year plan for early learning and child care.
Contact Susan.Prentice@umanitoba.ca if you are interested in being a signatory to the letter.
To read more about this issue, please see our Fast Facts: Manitoba Needs a Public Childcare System or Download the PDF
By Molly McCracken
This week, 16,000 high school students will be bused to the MTS centre to attend “We Day” and be encouraged to help others. Organized by social enterpreneurs Mark and Craig Kielburger, their globally branded Free the Children charity by all measures is a smashing success – it raised $15 million in Canada last year. But where does this leave Winnipeg and Manitoba, with our shamefully high child-poverty rates?
The new Canada Jobs Grant (CJG) program proposed in the recent federal Throne Speech represents a fundamental shift in funding for employment training in Canada. Provinces have opposed the changes because they fail to meet local employment training needs. Here in Manitoba, the CJG threatens to unravel successful programs in Winnipeg’s inner city.
The opposition’s unproductive filibuster of the provincial 2013 budget increase in the PST has left many aspects of the budget undebated. One is its failure to provide for improvement in the Employment & Income Assistance Program (EIA – aka “welfare”) in the face of a well-documented pressing need. In contrast, the budget eliminates the Education Property Tax (EPT) for all seniors in 2015 – a measure which has very little basis and two and a half times the price tag.
by Josh Brandon
The ability of municipalities to regulate, permit or prohibit certain types of development activities within their boundaries is one of the most powerful tools of local government. Through proper planning, local governments can help encourage development that fosters healthy diverse and socially sustainable communities. Bill 7, THE PLANNING AMENDMENT AND CITY OF WINNIPEG CHARTER AMENDMENT ACT (AFFORDABLE HOUSING), will provide local governments, and particularly the City of Winnipeg, a further tool to ensure new residential developments meet the need of all citizens through inclusionary zoning.
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